How robotics are Fighting Climate Change
Climate change is accelerating at an alarming rate. It is the defining issue of our generation and majorly impacts all living beings on earth. Given that, it is increasingly important for us to find ways to fight back against climate change in order to salvage our home. One thing that could prove useful in our fight against climate change is robotics.
While it may sound a bit ambitious initially, robotics are said to have huge potential when it comes to climate change. From cleaning waterways to reducing emissions, assisting in disaster management and recovery, and more, they could prove vital.
Below are some ways we can harness the power of robotics to fight climate change.
Climate change is accelerating at an alarming rate. It is the defining issue of our generation and majorly impacts all living beings on earth. Given that, it is increasingly important for us to find ways to fight back against climate change in order to salvage our home. One thing that could prove useful in our fight against climate change is robotics.
While it may sound a bit ambitious initially, robotics are said to have huge potential when it comes to climate change. From cleaning waterways to reducing emissions, assisting in disaster management and recovery, and more, they could prove vital.
Below are some ways we can harness the power of robotics to fight climate change.
Cleaning Waterways
Water pollution is a huge problem we are currently facing due to the chemicals, plastic, waste, and various other pollutants that are entering our waters. This kind of pollution poses huge threats to ecosystems in our oceans and to human health.
Luckily, drone technology can be used to tackle this issue. For instance, the RanMarine Technology’s WasteShark is a water drone that swims on the surface, collecting biomass and debris from the top of the water before it reaches the sea. It has proven to be an effective solution to marine pollution.
It was modelled based on the world’s largest fish, the whale shark, and is not only efficient but a long-term solution. The WasteShark does not disturb or threaten any species living in the water, and the solution is low-cost. It is simple to use, easily transportable, and has a very low carbon footprint. One charge lasts up to 10 hours, and it collects vital data using its built-in sensor probes. It not only covers a greater amount of water than humans could, but it collects waste much quicker too.
Preventing Climate Disasters
Over the past number of years, climate disasters have only become more common and frequent. If you turn on the news, you will often hear of floods, droughts, or wildfires occurring across the globe.
Read our blog: Is flooding the new normal
According to The Conversation, climate disasters roughly kill 60,000 people each year and affect 200 million. They also cause up to $150 billion worth of damage. If we are to fight back against climate change, we not only need to reduce emissions and prevent pollution, but we also need to look after each other. Therefore, when these climate disasters occur, it is essential that we have recovery processes in place.
This is one area where robotics can really shine. Some companies have begun developing robotic systems that can help with post-flood recovery in particular. They help by rescuing the victims. In addition, drone observations can assist in assessing the direction the flood is heading in. They can predict the buildings which are most at risk and, as a result, prioritise these areas for evacuation. The UAV’s aerial images gathered help to determine the best evacuation routes in addition to identifying the clearest path for rescuing people.
Enhancing Recycling
With the 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) becoming increasingly important in a world where we are trying to be more sustainable, the sorting process requires a lot of manual work. It involves people picking items over a conveyor belt and sorting them to determine what is actually recyclable.
Robotics can enhance this manual working system and make it hassle-free by using artificial intelligence to sort items. They can then record what is on the conveyor belt. AMP Robotics, in particular, is already doing this and is utilising machine learning and computer vision.
This enables their robots to sort 80 items per minute; this is twice the speed of human sorters. Increasing the time it takes to sort recyclable materials ultimately means increasing the amount of material that can actually be recycled and reused too. This, as a result, can save a lot of emissions and prevent items from going to landfill. It is clear that technology such as this can significantly help in closing the loop of recyclable manufacturing, helping us to create a less wasteful world.
Tackling Deforestation
We are cutting down trees at an alarming rate when they are such a vital resource to the earth. Trees help to cleanse the air and absorb pollutants like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon dioxide. Deforestation contributes to 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to One Tree Planted. The same source states that we lose 10 million hectares of trees each year due to logging and agriculture. To reverse forest cover loss, conservationists are saying we need to plant a trillion trees.
Robots can help here as they are much faster than humans, being able to plant ten times the amount of trees that humans can. Artificial intelligence can be used to assess which spots are the best to plant trees, and the built-in GPS enables the drones to easily fly to the locations and drop the seeds. Using robotics could greatly help us to restore our forests which is vital if we are to save the planet.
The Estonian company Milrem Robotics has already begun using robotics to plant trees and tackle deforestation to restore our forests. They began by developing autonomous tanks and have progressed to developing an autonomous robot forester capable of planting and nurturing young plants. It carries up to 300 saplings and has the ability to plant a hectare of a forest in under six hours.
In Summary
It is evident that robotics have huge potential when it comes to fighting climate change. They can help in more ways than we could possibly mention in one article, and day by day, entrepreneurs alike are realising this and harnessing their power to leave behind a better world for future generations.
From tree planting drones to underwater waste-collecting drones and robot recycling sorters, robotics can significantly enhance efficiency and produce results much quicker than humans. Technology, particularly robotics, is definitely something that needs to be incorporated into our strategy to save the planet.
We are running out of time; we need to show our governments the potential of robotics and encourage them to be used worldwide. Robotics coupled with our own efforts could make a huge difference.